Behind Those Eyes
by Lilium Bell
Summary: Yuan prepares for his riskiest move against Yggdrasil- releasing Origin's seal. Spoilers ahead!


Whooo, school's ending, huh? Well, this fic is mostly a modified version of certain events in the story, so some of the quotes are taken directly from the game and manga. Spoilers ahead! Enjoy!

* * *

It wasn't uncommon for a snowstorm to occur in Flanoir; in fact, the continent was infamous for its wintry climate. This particular night, however, the snowstorm was especially intense. Snow threatening to turn to hail rammed itself against the glass windows of the town noisily, demanding that the citizens stay inside lest they venture out only to be blinded. The citizens, used to the temperamental weather, obeyed and stayed inside, quietly sipping hot tea or coffee. Who would want to be out at this hour anyway?

It was late as Yuan sat at his desk, his fingers laced together in front of him, elbows propped up on the wooden surface, surrounded by papers and pens. Yuan had never been any good at keeping his desk neat. He'd clean it out once a month, but only because it would be so cluttered that the only room left for incoming papers was on the floor. So, there Yuan sat surrounded by papers and pens, eyes closed in meditation as he prepared to make his boldest move against Yggdrasil yet. Not to say that founding the whole Renegade organization wasn't a bold move in itself. It had been the riskiest thing he had ever done, but it was working so far.

But tonight was a different story. Tonight was the night that would decide whether or not the world as they knew it would survive. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. The snowstorm outside was making an awful lot of noise when it came into contact with the window. He needed to ignore that storm. What he was about to do would mean the betrayal of not only Yggdrasil, but Kratos as well. The automatic door slid open.

"Sir." The soldier said. Yuan didn't open his eyes.

"Are we ready?"

"Yes."

Yuan sat for a moment, still thinking. Was this the right thing to do? He had to admit that using Lloyd as leverage against Kratos was despicable, but what choice did he have? Kratos would never release Origin's seal on his own.

"Sir?" The loyal Renegade stood at the ready.

"Let's go." Yuan stood quickly, cloak billowing behind him as he mentally prepared himself. He glanced outside the window. The snowstorm was raging. How appropriate. He returned his gaze to the door before him. Everything would work out, he told himself.

It had to.

* * *

As he approached the door to Altessa's home, a strange feeling came over him. He looked around, noticing the lack of snow and wind. Yuan felt more like a Flanoir storm at the moment, his emotions raging inside him, battling his judgment and reason, a complete contrast to the calm, serene 

night that graced the humble abode. Apprehensively, he gave the signal to the Renegade soldier to open the door. As promised by Zelos, it was unlocked. He stepped inside and looked around. Zelos had drugged everyone as well, evidenced by the snores coming from the unmoving bodies at the dinner table. Yuan looked toward the far wall and found a pair of ocean blue eyes staring at him.

"Chosen." Yuan nodded in greeting.

Zelos gave a curt nod in return, his eyes narrowed as the moonlight caught them for a second, flashing silver in Yuan's direction. The redhead's arms were folded over his chest and he wore an expression of extreme discontent. Yuan stared for a moment. Zelos indicated Lloyd's room with a quick nod to his left. Yuan didn't say a word as he approached Lloyd's room. Zelos took his seat at the dinner table among his companions and feigned sleep. Yuan wondered briefly why he had gotten up at all.

Yuan stepped past the empty doorframe and watched Lloyd's sleeping form. He studied his face for a moment, noting how much he resembled is father. Even though his eyes were closed, Yuan knew that Lloyd had his mother's eyes. He pictured them for a moment—Kratos and Anna holding a baby Lloyd. Yuan hesitated for a moment, but then he stepped forward very deliberately.

Lloyd began to stir as he let out a groan. He opened his eyes slowly until he caught sight of Yuan's cloak. Then the boy's eyes snapped open.

"Yuan! What—" But Lloyd's voice caught as he realized he couldn't move his body.

"Lloyd Irving. It's been a while." He nodded to the Renegade soldiers. They moved forward to pick up the immobilized boy. Lloyd tried with all his might to resist but only managed to swear as the soldiers moved him toward the door. Lloyd caught sight of his friends, seemingly dead.

"Everyone! Yuan, you bastard!" He spat.

"Now, now, they're only asleep. Besides, is that the way to behave when you're about to meet your father?" Yuan asked tauntingly and hated himself for the cruelty that was in his voice.

"My… father?" Lloyd stopped struggling for a moment but then fought back harder than ever. "I swear, if you've done anything to dad—"

"Not that father." Yuan cut him off and opened the front door.

He was greeted by cold metal pressing against his neck.

"Faster than I thought, Kratos." Yuan said, his lips curving into a smirk. He moved slightly to the side to allow Kratos a view of Lloyd.

"Kratos?" Lloyd's confused voice sounded into the cold air.

Kratos lowered his sword slightly, allowing Yuan to step into the clear as well as the two soldiers holding Lloyd. The door closed behind them.

"Yuan, let him go. He knows nothing at this point." He caught Lloyd's gaze for a moment, "Let Lloyd go and leave."

Yuan ignored the daggers coming out of Kratos's eyes as well as the ice in his voice.

"I don't understand. What does Kratos have to do with this? And Yuan, why do you oppose Yggdrasil if you're a part of Cruxis?" Lloyd was too confused to notice the two swords held at his neck, "What's the meaning of all this?"

"It means we all have circumstances." Yuan said offhandedly. It was hard enough to confront his best friend like this. It was even harder to ignore his best friend's son when he was about to reveal who his real father was. He met Kratos's ruby eyes with his own turquoise ones. He almost looked away under the intensity of the gaze but stood his ground.

"Kratos, release Origin's seal." Yuan demanded. "If you don't, your son will die right here."

"Son…?" Lloyd's voice again.

"Yuan." Kratos growled, a threat. Yuan ignored it. He had gone too far to turn back now, yet he could no longer look at Kratos. Yuan could see the anxiety behind Kratos's eyes—Kratos's fear that his son would hate him.

"Isn't this a good time to tell him?" Yuan continued, looking at Lloyd instead. Lloyd looked from Kratos to Yuan.

"You and Kratos are father and son." Yuan said, looking away from both of them. He felt ashamed for this, but he would not stop now.

"That… can't be true!" Lloyd said, eyes widened with shock, "The man who hurt Colette, the man who even tried to kill us—he can't be my father!"

Yuan looked at Kratos. The older man was looking pointedly at the ground, clearly at a loss for words.

"How does it feel to have your own son reject you like that?" Yuan said, trying to ignore Lloyd's outburst. Kratos glanced at Yuan briefly. In that brief moment where their eyes met, Yuan began to realize that his plan was going to fail.

"We don't seem to be getting anywhere with this." The half-elf said, trying to save himself from failing completely. He extended his arm before him, palm facing Kratos as mana crackled in the air, lightning gathering into his palm. "In that case, I'll just kill you myself."

Kratos stared defiantly at Yuan, no fear in his eyes at all.

"You changed once you got a family." Yuan said, forcing the words out of his mouth, trying to will Kratos to react, "Just like fifteen years ago when Anna turned into a monster, you lost the ability to fight back. If you hadn't been with her, she never would have ended up like that."

"Shut up!" Lloyd yelled, breaking free of the guards, "Don't talk about my mother like that!" He began to swing his sword at Yuan's back. Out of reflex, Yuan whipped around, directing the lightning at Lloyd before he could stop himself.

"Fool!"

Lloyd raised his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself as Yuan cut off the mana flowing into his palm. But it was too late, the lightning was already racing towards Lloyd. Yuan watched in horror as his plans fell apart when Kratos suddenly threw himself in the path of the attack.

Lloyd had squeezed his eyes shut, anticipating the pain. When it didn't come, he opened his eyes tentatively. He caught sight of Kratos kneeling before him as he relaxed his body.

"Are you okay?" Kratos asked, looking at Lloyd with a strange expression. Lloyd didn't move or speak. "Good." Kratos smiled slightly, then fell to the ground.

It was more than Lloyd could take. He yelled in confusion. Yuan felt terrible. Things were not going according to plan. But now was not the time to be regretful. He glanced at Kratos's back and winced at the scorch marks.

"Whatever. Just take them." Yuan said, half-heartedly. He was busy thinking of all the ways to make sure Kratos was alive and well as well as thinking of ways to apologize to the pair. The guards moved to obey his orders as the door behind them opened.

"Guh!" Yuan's soldiers were suddenly thrown across the yard. Yuan stared in disbelief at the source of the attack.

"You!" For the first time in four thousand years, Yuan felt fear—real fear. He could feel adrenaline rush through his system, flooding his mind with panic. All his plans were ruined, and he was about to be killed. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

Mithos said nothing as he raised a hand, drawing mana into his palm. Yuan's body slammed into the rock wall forcefully and collapsed to the ground.

"You… Yggdrasil!" He spat as he raised his eyes to who he thought would be the last person he ever saw. "What the hell!"

"I had Pronyma keep tabs on Kratos since it seemed he was leaking information to Lloyd's group." Mithos said, quite bored. "Who would have known that the leader of those annoying Renegades that kept getting in my way was you." The boy mused. He had a cruel smile on his lips, enjoying the pain he was causing Yuan. He placed his foot on Yuan's back and dug his heel in roughly. Yuan coughed blood. "If it weren't for my sister's wishes, I'd kill you right now." He removed his foot, allowing Yuan to breathe before the deranged half-elf began kicking Yuan's defenseless form, laughing maniacally. For a moment, Yuan thought of Martel. Mithos's laughter used to sound like Martel's but now it only sounded like insanity. The door opened again.

"What's going on?" Colette's voice sounded, clearly confused by the scene before her. She caught sight of Lloyd kneeling near Kratos's unmoving form. "Lloyd!" She ran to his side.

"Lloyd, what's wrong?" Colette's voice was filled with worry. She placed a tentative hand on Lloyd's shoulder, trying to reach through his confusion. Lloyd looked at her strangely, not recognizing her at first.

"My… my father. Kratos… he couldn't be. He tried to kill you. He… tried to kill _us_. He couldn't possibly be my father." Lloyd suddenly grabbed his head and let out a cry of anguish. Even Mithos stopped kicking Yuan to examine the growing amount of insanity in the area. With his cheek pressed to the ground, Yuan tried to ignore Lloyd. Colette drew back, afraid, but only for a moment. Her eyes filled with kindness. She grabbed the boy's shoulders.

"Lloyd, you're always telling me that I'll always be myself no matter what happens." Lloyd eyes rested with dull comprehension on Kratos's seemingly lifeless body. "So it doesn't matter that Kratos is your father. You're still you. You're still Lloyd." Colette did not move her gaze from Lloyd's eyes the entire time. He looked at her slowly.

"I'm… still me?" She nodded, giving him her best smile. At that moment, the door to Altessa's home opened again.

"Lloyd!" Genis's and the Professor's voices rang out through the night air. Genis looked at Mithos, his foot atop Yuan's back.

"Mithos…?" Genis's eyes lowered to the ground. "So it's true." He said softly, full of dejection.

"What's true? That you shouldn't have trusted me?" Mithos turned his complete attention to the group gathering at the door. Now Altessa and Tabatha had joined the situation. For a second, Mithos's eyes narrowed at the sight of Tabatha. "Well, that's good, because I didn't trust you either!"

A burst of light sprang from Mithos's open palm to Altessa. Tabatha ran to his side. She looked at Mithos with soulless eyes.

"Mithos… saved me." She said simply.

"Shut up!" Mithos roared, the mana in his attack slammed Tabatha's body against the hard rock wall with an audible crack.

"Mithos… saved… me… Mithos…" Tabatha's voiced ceased to function.

"How could you? You risked your life to save her!" Genis said helplessly, desperately trying to reclaim his friend.

"That twisted doll… she looks so disturbingly like my sister. She's a failed vessel who couldn't accept my sister's soul! Just looking at her makes me sick." Genis looked at Mithos's eyes.

"That's… not true! Mithos, you're our friend, right?" The small boy made to run toward Mithos, but was held back by his sister's hand on his shoulder. By now, everyone was wide awake and watching the scene play before them. Mithos didn't answer.

Pronyma appeared suddenly. She looked around briefly. "My lord, we should leave this to the angels."

"Mithos!" Mithos looked at Genis for a fraction of a second. Genis could see in his friend's eyes the pain of a lost, twisted soul. The angel lord turned to Pronyma.

"Very well." Mithos's small feet lost contact with the ground as light enveloped him. He ignored Genis's cries as he closed his eyes.

"Let us leave." Yggdrasil said as Genis looked on in disbelief. His image began to fade away, as well as Pronyma.

"Kratos!" Lloyd yelled in surprise as Kratos's body also began to disappear.

And then they were gone. Three angels appeared in their wake.

"Out of the way." Lloyd said dangerously.

* * *

"Are you… okay?"

Yuan looked tiredly at Lloyd. He wondered how long he had been trying to get up.

"I'm fine." He stood up suddenly, ignoring all the pain shooting through his body. He barely winced.

"Are you sure you should be moving?" Colette asked.

"There isn't much time." Yuan replied curtly. He didn't have time for sympathy. "With this, all our efforts have been rendered useless. I have to evacuate the Renegades before Yggdrasil kills them all." He began to walk away, unable to fly for the moment. It was taking all of his strength not to limp noticeably.

"Wait!" Lloyd said. Yuan stopped, but didn't turn around. He was sure that if he saw Lloyd's eyes- saw whatever Lloyd was feeling, he'd have the urge to apologize.

"You were trying to use the Eternal Sword, weren't you?" He asked. There was something in his voice that made Yuan feel safe enough to look him in the eye.

"Yes. Then we were going to use the Mana Cannon to destroy that infernal tower, allowing the Great Seed to sprout. That was our plan." Again, the storm raged within Yuan's mind. "Once we learned of your existence, I was certain that I could—" he hesitated for a moment, "—force Kratos to help us."

Lloyd remained silent for a moment. His mind wandered to Kratos for a moment.

"You didn't approve of Mithos's age of Half-elves?"

Yuan nearly spat at the phrase.

"Mithos's vision is a twisted version of Martel's last wish."

"What was Lady Martel's last wish?" Colette asked gently. Yuan was caught off guard. He looked at Colette. For a moment, he saw Martel in the young girl's eyes—her kindness, her compassion. He closed his eyes as he remembered Martel's smile.

"She wanted a world without discrimination." And for a second, he heard her voice. Behind closed eyes, Yuan remembered Martel as she was. He opened his eyes suddenly and began to walk away, his strength slowly returning to him.

"Should you really be moving?" Lloyd asked.

"There's no time."

"Is Kratos really the only one who can release Origin's seal?"

"The seal will be released as soon as he frees the mana from his body." Yuan replied, all traces of emotion gone from his voice.

"If he does that, he's likely to lose his life." Regal said. Lloyd looked at him with shock. Although he had tried, Yuan was still bothered by this fact. But he had decided long ago that this was the only option left.

"So… we have to trade his life to get the Eternal Sword?!" Lloyd said. Unlike most adults, Yuan respected the naiveté that Lloyd held. If the boy wanted to save everyone, who was he to stop him? But at this moment, Lloyd needed to know all the facts.

"Lloyd," Lloyd recognized the fatherly tone Yuan was using, "Even if you manage to retrieve the Eternal Sword, you won't be able to use it." Yuan suddenly switched back to his professional tone, "It does not require the power of a summoner. You must merely be acknowledged by Origin. However, there is something that you cannot do anything about."

"What? Yggdrasil… Mithos said that too."

"That sword can only be used by half-elves. That sword was created by Origin especially for Mithos."

"What?!" Lloyd's heart sank. The others also looked up at the new piece of information.

Yuan left, walking into the darkness. His eyes looked ahead, the storm still raging inside him. As soon as the light from Altessa's house no longer reached him, he released his wings with a wince. Giving them a tentative flap, he rose into the air, refusing to look behind him.

"I'm… sorry."


End file.
